Young and Daring
by NaiveWriter
Summary: AMS found a bigger problem rising after James Taylor's demise. All agents were busy when one of their top agents needed back up. There was no one to help...except an unqualified recruit who was present during the call...
1. New Recruit

**Disclaimer: I do not owned anything that is related to the game. All credits goes to the respective owners.**

"...signal in his PDA is down! What the hell happen?!"

"..."

"Agent Green! Where is he!?"

"…He's gone."

"…no…No!"

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_-Five days before the transmission-_

_[AMS HQ]_

She couldn't believe it. She was quite disappointed to be exact. Maybe she her expectations were too high for this new recruit. Agent Amy Crystal glanced at the papers again and winced. 'Seriously?' she didn't know whether she should laughed or just ignored it. She turned her attention to the shooting practice room again. She frowned every time the new recruit reloaded the gun. "Too slow, kid...too slow." Crystal muttered as she looked at her watch. In ten minutes, the test would be over. She shook her head and turned her gaze back at the room.

...

The last paper was handed to Crystal on her desk. She almost choked on her tea when she saw the red 'approved' word at the bottom of the paper. Her eyes were fixed on the empty space below where she have to sign her name to approved the recruit. She wanted to scream. 'Why the heck do they approved that kid? Can't they see that the kid isn't good?!' Crystal rubbed her temples. There was someone knocking her door. "Come in." she spoke. An agent in black suit with black round glasses limped in her office. "Crystal, the recruit is waiting for..." he paused. "...Crystal? Are you alright? You look...uh, _upset."_

"It's that kid, Harris. I can't believe that other agents approved him." Crystal waved the paper in the air. "They're waiting for me to sign it.". "So? Sign it then." Harris closed the door and walked slowly to her desk. "AMS needs recruits. The more agents we have, the faster and better we can-". "I was there, Harris!" Crystal swept the papers off her table in frustration. Harris was dumbstruck. "I saw his performance and I mean it when I tell you this that he won't last a minute in his first mission!". Crystal continued. "I know, I know. I don't expect him to be as good as Agent G but really, the last test..." she showed Harris the last paper. "They _approved_ him, Harris. Despite his_ lousy aiming_ and _speed,_ they _approved_ him."

"AMS needs..." "..recruits! I know! But not an amateurish recruit. He'll slow other agents down." Crystal sighed and dropped the paper on the desk. "Kate Green is better than this kid." she mumbled. Harris waited for Crystal to calm down. "You know...you said similar things like that when Stewart first arrived to your office." Crystal still avoided eye contact. "You said he was a reckless recruit so you also asked for James to keep an eye on him. His first mission went well...along with the one of Goldman's incident.". "You're right, Harris...but this kid..." Crystal shook her head and pointed at the paper. "I think they just approved this kid because of his last name..."

Harris glanced at the paper. It's the profile of the new recruit named _Dan Taylor_...

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**Author's note: ...going to make it short. That's it. Not too long. Maybe around 500 words per chapter? I don't know...I'll just stick with short.**


	2. Unqualified

**Disclaimer: I do not owned anything that is related to the game. All credits goes to the respective owners.**

Dan Taylor was waiting patiently for an agent to come out to tell him whether he passed or not. Still, he hoped that he would pass. He looked around the place and he felt a bit nervous. The HQ was obviously a busy place. He heard people giving orders and ran around the place. Those who passed by gave Dan a weird look. It was as if they were saying 'who the heck are you?' or 'what are you doing here?'. Maybe it was the way he dressed. Everybody must be wondering why a blond young man in white sweaters and camo pants is here. Soon, though, he'll be wearing suits and work with these guys...if he was approved, that is.

"How are you doing, _agent?_" a voice called him from behind. Dan smiled broadly when he turned around and saw the person before him. "James!" Dan gave the man a hug. There were some agents staring at them with their mouth open. "Well...nice to see you too_...cousin_." James made sure that the last word was loud enough for those staring agents to hear and returned the stare at them.

"Dan?...Dan, you can let me go now." James pushed Dan off gently. "Still waiting for Agent Crystal's approval, I presumed." "Yes. Maybe, he's still deciding." Dan answered. A few agents were snickering behind the mountain of papers on their desk. "Agent Crystal is a woman, Dan. A very strict woman. It's quite hard to impress her...but don't worry, I'm sure you will make it." that last statement was added in the last minute when James saw Dan looked a bit scared. James decided to change the subject. "So...did you drive here, Dan?". "You know very well that I don't drive, James. I have this silly...condition." Dan mumbled at the last word. James patted his back. "You better overcome that soon, Dan. When you join in our ranks, there will be other thing to fear than _speed_."

"There you are, Taylor." Crystal walked to them with her eyes still fixed on the new recruit. "...or should I say...'Taylors'." "Ah, Amy. We were just waiting for you. So did my cousin-" "Boss needs to see you, James. ASAP." Crystal cut James before he could finish. James gave his cousin a 'thumb up' before he left.

Crystal waited until James was completely gone before she handed Dan the approval paper. There was no signature on it. "You're not qualified to be an agent, Dan." she said with a stern voice. "Leave.". "W-what?". "You heard me. _Leave_." Crystal pointed at the door. "Now.". "But I...I passed the...other agents approved my...". "Not me." Crystal pushed him to the door. "Now leave.". "No." Dan swatted Crystal's hand off his shoulder. "I'm not leaving until you tell me why you didn't approve me as an agent. I did my best in every single test that every agent threw at me." That made Crystal twitched.

"You want to know? Fine!" she jabbed Dan's chest with her finger. "You were _hit_ several times in agility test, _failed_ to noticed a hostile target in the practice field, _exposed_ yourself to your enemies and your _aiming_ skills were _pathetic_!". "But I _successfully_ rescued the civilians." Dan retorted. "Oh, so you can rescue civilians _without your head on your shoulders_, huh?!" Crystal screamed. Several agents were looking at the two in shock as the conversation heated up. "With all due respect, Ms. Crystal, I do believe that I did better than some rookies in here.". Half of the agents in the room raised their heads and glared at Dan.

"...leave, Dan." Crystal pointed at the door again. "But-". "Now!" Crystal snapped. Dan didn't move. An agent behind Crystal gestured to Dan. 'You better go. She means it.'. Dan frowned in disappointment. "...yes, ma'am." he muttered and left. 'How embarrassing', he thought. 'James won't be so happy to hear that his little cousin didn't get to be an _agent_...he gets to be a _failure_...'

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**Author's note: ...ah, this is so like me when I argued with my professor that I should get a B+ on my quiz... Thanks for viewing. :-)**


	3. Encouragement

**Disclaimer: I do not owned anything that is related to the game. All credits goes to the respective owners.**

Outside the white HQ building, Dan sat on the bench outside, staring up to the sky. The streets were empty and there were less people walking around. The silence was over when James came out from the building. "So, how did it go?" he asked. Dan frowned at that. He didn't want to answer. James sighed softly and sat beside Dan. "It didn't go well?"

"You didn't notice the silence in the main office room?" Dan said, looking elsewhere. James was right about one thing. There were more things to fear than speed. Disappointing his cousin who is one of the top agents in AMS was one of those fears. Dan didn't want to see disappointment on his face.

"I noticed." James answered. "...Dan." he called. "Dan, look at me when I'm talking to you.". Dan didn't budge. "Dan...it's not the end of the world. You still have-". "Five years, James. _Five years_. I trained myself so hard to get this far. I always wanted to get here to be an agent ever since you joined them and did great things for the society. I...I wanted to do the same. I wanted to do something right and not screwing things up. I just..." Dan paused. "I...just wanted to...make at least someone proud of me." he dropped his face on his hands. "...at least make _you_ proud, James.".

It was a long silence before James spoke to Dan. "You already made me proud, Dan.". "...huh?". "You always make me proud.". Dan turned to James. There was no hint of disappoint on his face. In fact, he was smiling. "But...but I...I didn't become an agent." Dan whimpered. James spoke. "You know what will disappoint me?" Dan shook his head. "Giving up. That's not going to take anyone anywhere. You..." he pointed to Dan, "You never give up. You didn't know this. I watched you from afar. You trained hard almost every day. You learned and improved yourself better than before. At first I thought that you would stop using a gun when you accidentally shot your neighbor's car." Dan laughed nervously. "It was a very expensive car.". "At least your aiming skills are better now so you won't shoot the car again." James added with a smirk.

"Look, the point is...you made it this far. All those hard five years weren't a total waste. Other agents did approve you, didn't they? Just because Agent Crystal disapproved you, it doesn't mean that your skills are all gone. Don't let that get to you. She is strict...real strict. But one day, she might change her mind." Dan was silent. "You might not be an agent _today_ but someday you'll be. I know it.". James stood up. "There's always next time for this kind of thing. Just don't give up hope." he ruffled Dan's hair. "Hey, stop that. I combed this morning!" Dan laughed. "Ha ha...well, I'll see you again soon after this trip." James walked to his car.

"W-wait! Where are you going?" Dan followed James. "I thought you'll leave for your next mission next month.". "There's..._something_ I need to check in Venice, Dan. Agent Kate Green will be with me there.". _Venice?_ Dan heard that report before. Goldman's incident, they called. It took the government several months to calm things down. James was there with his other partner, Gary Stewart. "But why would you go back there? There's nothing left to worry about." Dan asked. James simply answered, "I'll tell you everything when I come back, Dan. See ya."

James drove away. Dan waved at him. "Yeah, see ya soon."

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**Author's note: No action...but it's coming soon...the foreshadowing is quite obvious that this will not end with ponies and rainbows...(yeah...)**

**Thanks for viewing.**


	4. Broken Radio

**Disclaimer: I do not owned anything that is related to the game. All credits goes to the respective owners.**

_-Four days before the transmission-_

The next day...around late afternoon.

He couldn't get in the main office again but at least Dan could walk around to see other section of the base. There was one that he hadn't gone through. Parking lot. There was no one there, of course, since everyone was all inside. What caught Dan's attention was the beautiful black mustang car at the end of the parking lot. Dan went towards it to get a closer look. It didn't surprised Dan much that the car wasn't locked. The keys were where he expected them to be...under the seat. People tend to lose their car that way...but who would dare to steal a car from these AMS agents?

Getting inside the car had already made Dan nervous. He could drive a car but he was scared of speed...and this mustang was the fasting in this parking lot. Still, this car was quite tempting. He almost grabbed the wheel when he heard someone yelling angrily at somebody. Dan left the car and headed to the door. He opened the door and saw two people inside the room, doing something beneath the counter. "Hell, damn this piece o' machinery!" the first guy yelled and banged something. "Hey, easy on that, Joe. We're here to _fix_ the radio, not _dis_ about it and _break_ it..." then they noticed Dan at the door.

"Yo, who are you? A mechanic too?" One of them asked. "Uh, no. I'm just looking around." Dan answered. "Sorry if I ask but...what are you doing?". "Fixin' this damn radio. It's been broken for weeks now. Hell, when others tried to call from their side, we can't hear or even return the damn call. " The mechanic moved out from the counter and shook Dan's hand. "I'm Joe Stetnan and that lanky dude over there is Steve Morner." Dan nodded at them and tried very hard not to comment on how tight the grip was.

"You must be a rookie, eh? You're lost or somethin'?" Steve asked without looking at Dan while tinkering with the radio. "Wait, don't answer that, you can help us here rookie." Joe pulled Dan in before he refused. "Hey! We don't need him! Am I not much of help?!" Steve sounded offended by it. "Give this kid something to do, ok? He looked bored. Besides, he had nothing to do right now, right kid?" Joe handed Dan a small radio.

"Now press this button over here and say something to it." Joe spoke while he held another radio at the corner of the room. "Uh...testing 1...2...3." Dan spoke but the other radio only gave out static. Steve gave Joe a laugh. "See? I told you that there's nothing wrong with the wires. It's the crazy antenna." "Antenna?! You lost your half of your brain or somethin'?! If it's the antenna, they won't call us in here to fix it!" "How about you, Joe? You said the damn thing needs the wires changed but they were alright from the start!".

Dan gawked. Right in front of Dan, these two mechanics argued at one another like brothers fighting one another. "Um, excuse me." Dan tried to interfere but his voice was drowned by their bickering. Without a thought, Dan hit the radio on the counter and both mechanics turned their attention at Dan. "What was that for?!" Steve scowled. Dan ignored them and checked the radio again. "...hello? Can you guys stop fighting, please?...". The statics were gone, replaced by Dan's voice coming out from the speakers.

"H-how...how the...?!". Both Joe and Steve were speechless as they checked the radio. That shut them up and silence finally filled the room. "It worked." Dan smiled and handed the radio to Steve who stared blankly at Dan. They tested the radio again. "Well, it seems that we solved only _half_ of the problem." Steve gave the radio a light tap. "Now the radio here can accept the calls...but can't respond back to the caller." "Better than nothing, I guess. Oh, how humiliating. Weeks of repairing in this small room and it takes only a single hit to fix it?" It was quite comical to see Joe blushed. "Thanks, rookie. Now we'll try to fix the last problem..." Steve tipped his cap at Dan. "You're welcome. I'll...just go and...look around the parking lot."

"Leaving already, rookie?". "Let him go, Steve. Let him go out and get some fresh air. Speaking of fresh air..." Joe put the radio down. "I'll go and get some coffee." "Wait, I'll get one too." Steve followed Joe out of the room. Before Steve left, he turned to Dan. "If you're hanging around the parking lot, I advise you to stay away from the black mustang. Got it?". Dan started to have bad feeling about this. "Why?" he asked. Steve just shrugged. "Just trust me. Don't touch it. If there's a single scratch on that car...let's just say that the owner won't let you see the next sunlight again." Steve left.

Dan stared at the car and laughed. "Heh, I won't touch that car anyway."

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**Author's note: Hey! Don't think that this chapter isn't important. Yup, we're close...close to some action! ...and cut.**

**Thanks for viewing.**


	5. Incident 2003

**Disclaimer: I do not owned anything that is related to the game. All credits goes to the respective owners.**

_-Three days before the transmission-_

Something wrong happened the next day. All the agents were running to their cars and drove out with their weapons. Dan didn't know what happened and there was no one he could ask. He got the answer later...and it wasn't a good one.

He heard it when he was heading in the building.

"How bad is it?!" an agent asked while loading his gun. The panic rose when the ground shook violently. "Does _that_ answer your question?!" another agent shouted back. All electricity went down and there were cracks around the building. The whole place was going to collapsed. It was a bad idea to get in the building. Dan ran out with other agents and avoided getting hit by the falling debris.

"What the heck is going on? Terrorist attack?!" "Terrorists don't make earthquakes, you moron! Didn't you hear the report this morning?!" other agents panicked. Things got much worse when a young agent ran to them with panic on her face. "Has anyone seen agent Crystal?" she asked. The remaining agents were speechless and glanced around. Then they realized that... "Holy... She's still in _there!?_" they all glanced at the building. As soon as Dan heard that, he ran towards the collapsing entrance.

"What the-?! Rookie, stop!" they called Dan but he ignored them. He slid through the entrance just before it collapsed down. "Oh, God..." the agents were stunned. The earthquake finally stopped but the panic remained there. "Oh my God! What the heck are those things?!" an agent screamed in horror as he sees a strange looking group of humanoids rushed towards them.

Inside the entire building was a mess. Tables and desks broke in half and turned over. Cracks on the floor ran up the walls and lots of debris fell to the ground. Lights were blinking and the air became stale. Terror struck Dan when he realized that this main hall was about to collapse on him. Agent Crystal's office was just across this main hall but in the middle of chaos...that room looked pretty far away but there was no other way. He ran across the room and hoped that he was lucky enough that the place won't collapse on him-

The floor suddenly cracked open and Dan fell down to the next floor. Luckily, he wasn't injured that much. A metallic tube with barbed end came down and Dan evaded it just in time. That would kill him on the spot. 'That was so close!' Dan sighed in relief as he got up and checked where he was. 'File room.' Even this underground room was not so different from the main hall with all the shelves and cabinets turned over and papers scattered around. The door to his right would lead him to the training room...which was right under Crystal's office.

"Please be safe, Ms. Crystal." Dan muttered as he ran to the training room. When he opened the door, a huge desk fell in front of him and made Dan backed away in shock. The ceiling that separated the training room from Crystal's office upstairs...was completely gone, adding more anxiety to Dan. "Crystal!" he called in the midst of chaos. The ceiling above Crystal's office cracked but Dan didn't see it. "Crystal! Are you here?!" he called again. Agent Crystal was nowhere to be seen and Dan hoped that she wasn't buried by the ceiling...

"Crystal! Cryst-" when Dan heard the loud crack above him, it was too late. Small debris of the ceiling dropped down on Dan and he was knocked on the floor. Before he lost his conscious, he felt that something pulled his leg away from the place. A guy's voice said to Dan.

"I got you now, rookie... I got you...you're saf-" then everything went black.

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**Author's note: Ok...this is an official news...I'm a bit stuck...but I'll get through this like those old times with other stories... (I'm still ok.)**

**Thanks for viewing.**


	6. Disoriented

**Disclaimer: I do not owned anything that is related to the game. All credits goes to the respective owners.**

_-a long moment later-_

"...ot gonna die...not gonna die...not gonna die...we're not gonna..."

Dan could hear the guy mumbling to himself. Everything blurred in his vision but it was slowly coming back. 'Where am I?' Dan tried to focus...which was hard since he felt dizzy. "You're...you're back, rookie." the guy greeted Dan with a slight tone of relieve. It was Joe. He was sitting near the door, holding the cap in his shaky hands. Dan had a terrible feeling about it. "J-Joe? Where's Steve?" _"He's dead." _Joe blurted out with a panic look in his eyes. "P-pushed me away from the b-building's metal frame a-and...he...oh, God..."

Dead. Dan shivered at that word. His eyes started to adjust to the surroundings and saw that he was in the same room where he first met the mechanics. The only working neon light was swinging above them, showing the destruction after the quake. The desks were turned over, pieces of machinery scattered around the room and the wires from both ceiling and walls still sparked. This gave Dan the impression of an interrogation room. A very scary one. Scarier than the agent that asked him questions, the cold glare that agent Crystal gave him and the other-

_Agent Crystal_...How could he forget about her?

"Joe. Have you seen Agent Crystal?"

Joe pointed at the dark corner of the room. "F-found her unconscious near the training room. After I got her here, that was when I heard you...I-I ran to you a-and that was when Steve..." Joe mumbled something to himself and held on to the cap. The guy was freaking out thanks to the situation they are in. Amy Crystal was still unconscious. There were a few bruises around her; no serious injuries thankfully.

"What the heck?" Dan muttered. He began to breathe harder...the room had no windows...only the door and it was shut. It wasn't just Dan that was breathing harder. Joe was shaking at the corner and still muttered to himself. Joe suddenly panicked when he saw Dan went to the door. "R-rookie! Don't open the d-door." "If we don't open and let the air in, we'll die of suffocation. You want that?" Dan turned the door knob. "B-but...S-Steve closed that d-door...from the-"

**_CRASH!_**

"Holy-!" Dan was pushed down on the ground. Joe screamed in horror. Dan couldn't believe his eyes when he saw who...or _what _crashed the door and tackled him down. They were two disfigured, corpse-like people with no eye lids to cover those white eyes and the lips weren't on the face. Their bodies were covered with snake tattoos and the skin on their chest was torn off, revealing the red flesh contrast to the gray complexion. They snarled and bent down to Dan with their mouths open.

It was a quick defensive reflex. Dan pushed the one on top of him off and twisted its neck. One went down on the side but the other caught Dan's arms and was about to bite Dan. In the blink of an eye, the monster's head was blown away by several gunshots. Its lifeless body dropped on Dan and he pushed it away in disgust. He got up and saw agent Crystal with her hand gun aiming at the bodies on the floor.

"That was close." she said. "Otherwise you'll be its lunch..."

Joe finally stopped shaking and moved closer to agent Crystal. "Ugh! Darn it!" Crystal clutched her side. "Agent Crystal? Are you...?" Joe caught her before she hit the floor. Dan looked at her side but saw no blood or any scratches there. Then a thought came to him..._internal injury._ A very bad news. No one knew how bad or how much time does Crystal has left before it got worse. "Well...good thing that there were only two of those things..." Crystal groaned as Joe let her leaned against the wall.

"What...what were those...?" Dan looked at the two bodies on the floor. They actually looked like corpses...or people who were brutally tortured with all of the wounds and scars all over their bodies. They looked frightening...like those monsters in the stories that were used to scare children...only...this was a real thing.

'I don't like this...' Dan frowned. The thought of Goldman's Incident ran through his mind and he didn't want to think that it wasn't over.

'It's...coming back_ again?!_'

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**Author's note: Uh, sorry if I bore anyone with short chapters...and the long wait. Things are going crazy around here and...I don't want to talk about it here...and anywhere.**

**Thanks for viewing...and reviewing...**


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